I have decided that I don’t have to post on the weekends. I mean, come on. I spend most of it programming the site, or marketing the site, or doing whatever I can for the site anyway. I think I can take the weekend off of this blog.

I just finished getting March’s checks out in the mail tonight. Its a big hassle, though it is one of my favorite parts of this project. It’s the confirmation that I am indeed helping people sell their books… and paying them more than anyone else. Holding that stack of envelopes in my hand before dropping them in the mailbox in the corner always feels really good.

But man, I gotta come up with a better system.

I use quicken, which is great. But I have to print an invoice for each author, then enter each payout in quicken, then print each check (they dont line up in the envelope window properly if I print them 3 to a page at a time), then make a copy of the invoice and the check, then double and triple check each one (I sent them all out without having signed them once, and sent the wrong invoice with the wrong checks twice. oye. That was embarassing.) then fold the invoices in a special way (because window envelopes are narrower than letter envelopes and the old tri-fold business letter deal doesnt work) and get them all in the envelopes and then check the signatures again before sealing them, stamping them and taking them outside to drop them in the box.

Did I really just explain all that? Sorry.

Anyway, so I think I need to get the checks where the check is at the top, then the bottom 2/3 of the page is blank. That way, I can print the check and the invoince together, right from the admin page of the website. That will eliminate a lot of the hassle.

And the checks went out a day late. They are supposed to be out by the 15th. Im usually so excited to pay the authors that I get it done the first week of the month. But this month, with travel and other projects… I didn’t get them out till tonight. I hope the authors will forgive me.

I didnt get to start till 10pm tonight, and it really took 2 hours to do all of that (well, including breaks to walk the dog, put my daughter to bed, and talk to my wife for a few minutes). Its after midnight now. I think I am going to finish reading a salon article on the new jrr tolkein book and then go to bed.